American Shore & Beach Preservation Association
National Coastal Conference
Promoting Healthy Coasts
Virginia Beach, Virginia, Oct 14-17 2014
Computing Coastal Storm Damages Prevented by USACE Projects
Susan Durden1, Lauren Klonsky2, Idris Dobbs3, Lori Hadley4
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reports Annual Flood Damage Prevented to Congress.
Although these reports provide valuable information on riverine flood damages prevented due to USACE
projects, the reports lack information regarding USACE coastal projects. Damages prevented are damages
which were avoided due to the presence of a risk management measure. This presentation will discuss the
development of a streamlined Coastal Storm Damages Prevented (CSDP) methodology.
The methodology was developed with several guiding principles. First, it must be a streamlined and
reproducible approach. Secondly, it must be scalable for various user’s needs and available data, but must
maintain consistency from project to project. Third, it must produce a technically defensible result. Finally,
the methodology must be applicable to the entire nation.
The CSDP methodology assesses damages incurred during selected storm events at particular project sites
for a “with” project and “without” project condition. Damages are computed with the use of HAZUS,
SBEACH (or other costal morphology approximation methods), and GIS based tools and processes. It is
being developed by a team including IWR, ERDC, several USACE District offices, other Federal agencies
and contract subject matter experts. It has great potential to illustrate the value of coastal storm protection
projects to the nation.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1
USACE Institute of Water Resources, 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22315, (703) 428-8015
Susan.E.Durden@usace.army.mil
2
CDM Smith, 50 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, (617) 452-6361, klonskyls@cdmsmith.com
3
USACE Jacksonville District, 701 San Marco Blvd Ste 4W, Jacksonville, Florida 32207,
idris.l.dobbs@usace.army.mil
4
USACE Jacksonville District, 701 San Marco Blvd Ste 4W, Jacksonville, Florida 33207,
Lori.L.Hadley@usace.army.mil
Ms. Susan Durden currently works as a senior economist with the Institute for Water Resources of the Corps of
Engineers. She has degrees in economics and education with extensive post-graduate training in strategic planning,
conflict resolution, environmental issue resolution and communications.
Ms. Lauren Klonsky is a Water Resources / Coastal Engineer at CDM Smith with specialization in the areas of
coastal processes. She received a Coastal Engineering Certificate from Old Dominion University in 2012 and an
M.S. in the field of Environmental Engineering from Tufts University in 2008.